The RISE of church tribalism

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Imagine three kids running around a maypole, forming a chain with their arms. The innermost kid is holding the pole with one hand. The faster they run, the more centrifugal force there is tearing the chain apart. The tighter they grip, the more centripetal force there is holding the chain together. Eventually centrifugal force exceeds centripetal force and the chain breaks.

That’s essentially what is happening in this country, N.Y.U.’s Jonathan Haidt argued in a lecture delivered to the Manhattan Institute in November. He listed some of the reasons centrifugal forces may now exceed centripetal: the loss of the common enemies we had in World War II and the Cold War, an increasingly fragmented media, the radicalization of the Republican Party, and a new form of identity politics, especially on campus.

Haidt made the interesting point that identity politics per se is not the problem. Identity politics is just political mobilization around group characteristics. The problem is that identity politics has dropped its centripetal elements and become entirely centrifugal.

Martin Luther King described segregation and injustice as forces tearing us apart. He appealed to universal principles and our common humanity as ways to heal prejudice and unite the nation. He appealed to common religious principles, the creed of our founding fathers and a common language of love to drive out prejudice. King “framed our greatest moral failing as an opportunity for centripetal redemption,” Haidt observed.

5 Comments

  • Reply August 23, 2018

    Varnel Watson

    proceeds from pre-tribal socialism Scotty Searan

  • Scotty Searan
    Reply August 24, 2018

    Scotty Searan

    Troy Day: He made it a point about the radicalization of the Republican Party, but he fails to mention how radical the media and the Democratic Party.
    The Majorities in both Parties are Radicals. I am no longer a Republican I have changed from Republican to Independent. It is not because of the radical elements in the Republican. party.
    To me President Donald Trump and the Republicans are Radical enough on balancing the debt..
    It appears to me that this article is criticizing the christians because we want God back in our government. If that is tribalism so be it.
    We Christians should make the commitment to live like the early church in Jerusalem.
    Listen to this little clip.
    https://soundcloud.com/user-249886612/meekness-power-under-control-my-moneylife-with-chuck-bentley-august-23-2018

  • Reply August 24, 2018

    Varnel Watson

    What is Trump got to do with the RISE OF CHURCH TRIBALISM? Man, you really need to wake up #trumpeverywhere

    • Scotty Searan
      Reply August 24, 2018

      Scotty Searan

      Did we read the same article? He points out the radicalization of the Republican party. It wasn’t the old line Republicans that put President Trump in office
      The old ones are fighting him where in the article does it talk about Church Tribalism
      That is just a title to get you to look. Actually a false title

    • Reply August 24, 2018

      Varnel Watson

      Sometimes I wonder that too You tend to insert Trump in every conversation and I just did not see the Link this time

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